The Girl Who Looted Tomorrow

But this gatekeeping believer was different.

Life Freya was standing within his perception range, so he immediately knew she was also an Earth Path practitioner, and a very high-ranking one at that. At minimum, she was Rank Five.

After all, he had not even sensed such a powerful presence from Archbishop Pantheon.

More than that, the holy emblem blessed by the gods and carrying a faint trace of divinity utterly shocked this believer.

For a devout believer, how was this any different from seeing the gods in person?

Seeing that he still had not reacted, Life Freya spoke in a light, clear voice.

“Um… I’d like to see Bishop Pantheon…”

Before she could finish, the gatekeeping believer’s eyes rolled back.

He fell flat onto his back with a thud.

This man had actually fainted on the spot from sheer excitement.

Even though Life Freya had already experienced this once, she still found it hard to keep a straight face.

Wasn’t this a little too dramatic?

But then she thought about it.

In her previous world, some fanatical fans could truly faint from happiness if a celebrity blew them a kiss.

And for these believers, the gods held a far higher place in their hearts than any celebrity did in the hearts of fans.

Looking at the unconscious believer before her, Life Freya did not rush.

She simply waited quietly at the entrance.

Sure enough, less than half a minute later, heavy footsteps came from inside the church.

Archbishop Pantheon opened the doors.

Although the Archbishop did not follow the Life Branch, his [Mind Sense] had no problem covering the entire church.

And Life Freya’s presence was far too obvious. It would have been difficult not to notice her.

The Archbishop’s gaze quickly swept over Life Freya and finally stopped on the holy emblem.

Then he dropped to one knee, bowed slightly, and said, “Your Holiness.”

This holy emblem represented the gods’ recognition.

The person wearing it could be understood as the gods’ incarnation in the mortal world.

The wearer’s words carried the same authority as the gods’ own words.

So naturally, if the wearer was a girl, she was the Saintess. If the wearer was a boy, he was the Saint.

Of course, in the Earth Church, there were also other forms of address.

A girl could be called Mother, and a boy could be called Father.

But that was not the point.

Life Freya went straight to the matter.

“Bishop Pantheon, I need your help. Right now, General Jerome of the kingdom is planning a massive conspiracy to burn down this entire city. I need you to help me stop this disaster before it can begin.”

“Of course,” Pantheon answered at once. “What do we need to do?”

Life Freya said, “Arrive at the residential district in the city center at eight tonight. The official Mobile Unit and Special Affairs will surround and suppress General Jerome. When the time comes, we only need to go there and support them.”

Pantheon nodded.

“Understood. I will gather every practitioner in the church immediately.”

It had to be said, this was where the difference between Pantheon and Euphemia showed clearly.

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When Euphemia heard this kind of intelligence, she would show an extremely shocked and stunned expression, which was very entertaining.

Pantheon, on the other hand, remained completely calm.

He did not question where the information had come from at all.

His only thought was to carry out the order.

⸻

Time slowly passed.

Both the authorities and the Earth Church began preparing for the coming encirclement.

The scene shifted to Jerome.

At this moment, he had just bought two minced-meat and onion flatbreads for dinner and was walking back toward his residence.

He took a bite of the flatbread in his hand and murmured softly, “Ah, that familiar taste… It hasn’t changed at all.”

The last time he had eaten this flatbread had probably been ten years ago.

Since then, he had remained on the front line and had never returned.

Only recently, after noticing major movements from the Pentagram Alliance, had he gone to His Majesty to request support.

In the end, he learned that the king had no intention of providing support at all. Worse, he even wanted to surrender without a fight.

Because of that, Jerome had argued fiercely with the king and been temporarily relieved of duty.

Jerome murmured, “No matter what, I cannot accept that outcome.”

Just last night, with the help of “other people,” a large amount of materials had been secretly transported into the city.

The Demon Path potion factory could now operate at full capacity.

He could also officially begin his plan and start drawing the enormous occult array.

“It won’t take long,” Jerome said. “Two months… no, one month, and I’ll complete it.”

As Jerome walked home while thinking about his plan and eating his flatbread, he suddenly sensed that something was slightly wrong.

The house he rented was in one of the city’s wealthy districts.

Middle-class people with a little money lived here.

And wealthy people were, after all, a minority, so there was usually not much foot traffic nearby.

But today felt a little different.

Wasn’t the area a bit too quiet?

Even with that doubt in mind, Jerome still walked slowly toward his home.

How to put it?

Only people who had already done something wrong would feel guilty and fear exposure.

On the other hand, if a person had not done anything wrong yet, then naturally there was nothing to fear.

If this were a week later, after Jerome’s plan had officially begun, he might have become cautious.

But right now, his plan had not officially started.

How could he possibly have been exposed?

As for distributing Demon Path potions, all of that had been done by his disguised [Soldiers].

So far, Special Affairs had made no progress in that case.

Trying to trace that line back to him was a complete fantasy.

Then, just as Jerome finished his first flatbread, took out the second, and was about to arrive at his front door, a woman walked toward him from ahead.

It was Jessica, the captain of the Mobile Unit.

Because the War Path had an ability called [Intuition], no ambush could succeed.

Jessica knew this well, so she had never planned to ambush him from the beginning.

The so-called [encirclement operation] this time was, in essence, drawing a massive perimeter and slowly tightening it after Jerome walked inside.

This was not a [trap].

It was an open move designed to force Jerome into a direct battle with them.

Looking at the man before her, Jessica said, “General Jerome, you deliberately spread Demon Path potions and intended to burn down the entire city in order to prepare your advancement ritual to Rank Six. Do you admit to these charges?”

After that, Jessica silently looked at the man in front of her.

A long time passed, and he still did not respond.

She could not help frowning. “So, are you refusing to answer?”

Only then did Jerome say in complete confusion, “Wait… you… I… huh?”

Even this General, whose will was extremely firm and whose face would not change even when gravely injured and near death on the battlefield, was now completely stunned.

His mind was a mess.

No, seriously.

I am planning to burn down the entire city, yes.

But I haven’t even started yet.

How did the Mobile Unit find me already?

Was this right?

One had to know that among civilian practitioners, the Mobile Unit had nicknames like “the Kings of Being Late” and “after-the-fact heroes.”

Although Euphemia had provided some evidence in the morning and the Mobile Unit had arrived that afternoon, making them seem efficient, under normal circumstances, there had to be enough evidence before the Mobile Unit could be called.

That was a strict requirement.

Many times, before a serious extraordinary incident erupted, Special Affairs could not collect enough evidence and therefore could not call the Mobile Unit.

By the time the incident broke out and the Mobile Unit arrived, it would already be far too late.

But the scene before him truly shocked Jerome.

The Mobile Unit, always famous for arriving late, had arrived before his plan had even begun.

And not just one or two days early.

They were at least a month early.

Was that reasonable?

Jerome said blankly, “What are you talking about? I don’t understand.”

When an ordinary villain said that, they might be pretending to be stupid.

But when Jerome said it, every word came from the bottom of his heart.

It could not have been more genuine.

Jessica frowned. “Playing dumb?”

As she spoke, she took out the most crucial piece of evidence provided by Euphemia, the copied occult array.

Holding the notebook, she showed it directly to Jerome.

“Do you have anything else you want to explain?”

The distance between them was less than sixteen feet.

Jerome could clearly see the contents of the notebook.

So he fell silent again for a long while.

Then he suddenly burst into laughter.

“Haha. Hahahahaha!”

“I spent so long carefully arranging this plan. I never expected it to fail before it even began. And to fail because of some strange notebook whose origin I don’t even know.”

Jerome had absolutely no idea how he had been exposed.

But since exposure was now a fact, there was nothing more to say.

The shadow beneath his feet instantly began to surge.

All of his spirituality was released and erupted at the same time.

He was using [One-Man Army] to create [Soldiers] on the spot.

Jessica also moved immediately.

She opened her right hand, and the spear flashing with arcs of electricity appeared in front of her out of thin air.

Then Jessica shot forward like lightning, charging straight toward Jerome.